


Atonement for a Sinner

by edgarallenhoe



Series: Tales of the Legendary Artemis [2]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Avengers Tower, Distrust, F/M, Post-Avengers: Age of Ultron (Movie), Second Chances
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-08
Updated: 2015-07-08
Packaged: 2018-04-08 06:50:15
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,754
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4294815
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/edgarallenhoe/pseuds/edgarallenhoe
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Petra Howell feels a bit useless. She wants to help Bucky acclimate to life at the tower, but doesn't really have any opportunities to do so. She's really surprised when he makes one for her.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Atonement for a Sinner

“I still don’t understand.”

“Me neither.” 

“What are you doing here, exactly?”

Petra Howell was currently being bombarded with questions. The Avengers sure were a talkative bunch. Currently, Tony Stark, Pietro Maximoff, Quinn Rosen, Natasha Romanov, and Clint Barton were grilling her in the Stark Tower.

“I told you, I’m just here for Bucky,” she sighed, extremely exasperated with the direction of the conversation. “I’m not gonna interfere with your little gang.”

“I still don’t really get it, though. Are we supposed to just trust you?” Tony Stark was eyeing her warily. “Did HYDRA put you up to this? And how do we know you’re really who you say you are? You could be wearing a mask. What do you have under there, some sort of tentacle monster? Are you a cyborg? What is it?”

“I’m human, don’t worry!” Petra was glaring daggers at him. She glanced over quickly at Bucky, who was almost lazily watching the whole scene unfold. Suddenly, he looked directly into her eyes, locking their gaze. Outwardly, she didn’t react. She just stared right back. But inside, she was burning with embarrassment. She had spent two years looking for Bucky, but had she made the right decision by coming here? The Avengers clearly didn’t want her interfering, and Bucky himself was making no moves to defend her. Neither was Steve. Sam might’ve if he were present, but he left immediately when they got back from Nebraska.

“I think we should give her a break. She wants to help him, let’s just let her do it,” Quinn Rosen spoke up. She was one of the newer additions to the team, and if Petra were correct she had some unnatural abilities just like the Maximoff twins. While her words were pretty neutral, her eyes were warm when she looked over at her. Petra turned away from the young girl.

“She can stay. If she makes a wrong move…” Clint trailed off, his expression dangerous. Everyone in the room started to disperse, murmuring amongst themselves until it was just Steve, Bucky, and Petra left.

“C’mon, I’ll show you both around,” Steve said, beckoning them into the hall. The tower seemed like a dream to Petra; she had basically been living out of a suitcase since she had left HYDRA. She had approximately two real outfits in addition to her uniform, and while she found ways to keep herself well-groomed she was usually still at a loss for functioning bathroom utilities. The last time she’d had a real bed was when her parents were still alive, and here was Steve showing her to a room - her new room - like it was nothing.

“You guys are up here. Quinn, Pietro, and Wanda are down a floor, but we just figured that we should give you two your space.” Bucky grunted and made his way into his room, shutting the door and locking it behind him. Steve looked a little concerned, but just sighed in resignation.

“I suppose it’ll just take him time to come around,” he said, “Anyways, here’s your access codes for the building and a phone for communication purposes.”

Petra took what he gave her and nodded at him. Then, she brushed past the blond man and entered her own room. The first thing she did was go straight for the shower. The hot water felt good cascading through her hair and down her back. She was in there for a solid thirty minutes just reveling in the feeling of the water until she decided it was time to get out. She had forgotten that the only clothes she had brought with her were extremely grimy, so she had had to throw them in a washing machine as soon as she got to the tower. She wrapped herself in one of the fluffy towels and stepped out of her room.

“Shit,” she murmured. Bucky’s door was wide open now, and she would have to walk past it on the way to the elevator. Her still-wet hair was clinging to her shoulders, and her bare feet padded softly on the cold wooden floor. She prayed he wasn’t in the room, but her prayers seemed to fall short. As soon as she reached his door, he seemed to be about to leave. When he saw her, he threw his hand over his eyes. He had pulled his hair back in a ponytail and she could see the tips of his ears turning red.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t… I mean, if I had known I wouldn’t have-” He was stuttering and stumbling over his words as she stood dripping on the floor. She felt a strange fluttering in her chest and gulped.

“It’s alright, I’m sure it’s nothing you haven’t seen before.”

“Yeah, but it’s… improper to see a lady like this.” This must be the old Bucky, the one buried deep under the mistakes and regretful actions that HYDRA forced on him. Petra let out a bark of a laugh at the word lady. The 40’s seemed like a much simpler time, where every woman was a lady and every man a gentleman.

“I’ll just go. You can uncover your eyes, Bucky.” He stood still, adamantly holding his hand over his face until he heard her walk away. She got in the elevator and headed down to the laundry room she had thrown her clothes into. Thankfully, she encountered none of the other Avengers on the way there. Quickly, she pulled her clothes on and wrapped the towel around her damp hair. She made a mental note to do some shopping at some point. She desperately needed more clothes.

The next few weeks passed in a bit of a blur, until eventually a routine was silently agreed upon. Petra and Bucky would get up at 5 AM every single morning without fail and go for a run. He would always outrun her by a landslide, but she would always stay within sight. Then, they would go back to their shared living space and make breakfast. Steve would sometimes pop up at this time to check on them. The conversations mostly involved Steve doing most of the talking. Bucky spoke very little, and Petra spoke even less (mostly because the conversation was never directed at her). Then, they would part ways. Steve usually had something for Bucky to do; he was trying to acclimate him to the Avengers initiative and get him to join up and help them take down the forces of evil. Petra wandered around New York, searching for stores and things to do. During the evening, her and Bucky would meet up again and go downstairs to a workout room to spar or train their bodies. Words rarely passed between the two. The lengthiest conversation they’d ever had was when they had first officially met after Bucky got his memory back.

Petra didn’t usually mind silence, but she was starting to grow anxious whenever she was around Bucky. She never knew where she stood with him. Did he want her there? Did he need her? It sure didn’t seem like it. She had wanted to be his shield, a knight in battle to stand before him, but she was getting shoved to the side and forgotten. She needed to talk to Steve.

“How can I get you all to trust me?” she asked when she finally cornered the man in question.

“What?” Steve asked, not sure if he had heard her correctly.

“I want… I want to help. I feel like a burden. Like I’m just mooching off of this lifestyle. I want to be there for Bucky, on and off the battlefield. And I just feel like I’m not really getting that opportunity.” Steve stared at her for a long time. The room they were standing in was completely silent, the only sound was their slow breathing.

“You know,” he began, “I really don’t even understand why you’re here. We don’t really need you. Bucky doesn’t really need you. I know he said you could stand by him, but now that we’re here I just don’t think you should stick around. Sorry kid, but that’s all there is to it.”

Petra’s mouth was slightly agape as she stared incredulously at the muscular man. She was about to say something but was interrupted by another voice.

“You’re wrong, Steve.” Bucky had entered the room and was standing by the door with his arms folded over his chest. “I do need her. Do you really think anyone else here trusts me? Sure, you do, but what about the rest? All they know is that I’m an assassin, a murderer. They look at me, and… I see the fear in their eyes. The only other person here that doesn’t run from the room every time I enter is her. Petra trusts me, and I trust her.”

Petra’s frozen heart unthawed a bit at his words. Validation felt good, and she was glad she had been helping him all along. She had been so afraid that she had been basically useless since they had gotten to this point.

“Well, then,” was all Steve said.

“Either we’re both Avengers, or neither of us are,” Bucky said, startling both Petra and Steve.

“What?” Petra exclaimed. Bucky was glaring intensely at Steve as Petra glanced between both of them. Their staredown was intense but short lived. Steve broke and sighed.

“Fine, training starts 7 AM every morning. I expect you both to be there.” He looked between the two of them before shaking his head and striding out of the room.

“Why would you do that?” Petra rounded on the man who had just stood up for her. He looked down at her as she approached him.

“We’re in this together now.” He nodded once at her stunned face and left the room. She couldn’t believe this was happening. Her, an Avenger? She had hated them once. But maybe… Maybe they weren’t really so bad. They seemed to be trying to do some good in the world. Bucky had given her the opportunity to help him out as well as the rest of the world. She could help clean up messes that the others had created. And she could do it at the side of the man she cared for.

Wait, she cared for Bucky? Where had that thought come from? Petra Howell didn’t care about anyone. Or did she? She groaned and buried her face in her hands. This was just one more problem for her to solve.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not really sure where I'm going with this or if I even like it? I just don't feel like it's as good as my other series, but I'll keep going with it. We'll see where this ends up. Thanks for reading! (Also, for Quinn to make sense, just read my other series!)


End file.
